Pao de Queijo - Brazilian Cheesy Rolls

Did you miss me since I didn't get my post up yesterday? Life is busy. Baby girl has been super needy this past week. She must have been going through a growth spurt or something because she'd only sleep about 4-5 hours a night between feedings. 4 or 5 hours certainly isn't bad for a 5 month old, but she can sleep 7-8 hour stretches.  Luckily, last night she slept from around 8:30pm to 6:45am, so I think the growth spurt is over and we're getting back to normal again. Whew!  I've also got a couple of big things going on. I started the C25K training plan a couple months back. I'm almost done and I have my first 5K in about 3 years coming up in a few weeks.  I also decided to try my hand a direct sales and became a independent distributor for Premier Designs, and even though I haven't started doing home shows yet it is keeping me busy. So, we'll keep this post simple.

I'm sharing this recipe I found over at Our Best Bites for Brazilian Cheese Rolls.  I really have no ties to Brazil other than knowing people who have been there. My husband went to Brazil for a few weeks once. I have a cousin who served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint in Brazil and a sister-in-law who also served a mission in Brazil.  My only real experience with Brazilian food is The Rodizio Grill. My hubby and I have also started cooking feijoada. I'm sure it's not traditional, but it is a good way to use up leftover spiral ham. Anyway, these little cheese rolls make the perfect little side dish to some feijoada. 

Pao de Queijo

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 cup tapioca flour (sometimes labeled tapioca starch) no substitutions- You should be able to find it in the Bob's Red Mill Section of your grocery store.
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 C grated cheddar cheese* (preferably medium or sharp)
• 1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place egg, milk, oil, tapioca flour, and salt in blender and blend until smooth. Add cheeses and pulse 2 times. Immediately pour batter into a mini muffin tin (if your muffin tin isn’t non-stick, spray lightly with non-stick spray first), filling each well about 3/4 full, or just slightly less. If desired (and I recommend), sprinkle a bit of Parmesan cheese on top and/or a tiny sprinkle of kosher salt.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until puffed and golden. Remove from oven and cool for a few minutes before removing rolls from pan. Serve warm.  These  don’t re-heat well  at all so eat them all while they are nice and fresh.

Yield: anywhere from 16-24 rolls, depending on how full you fill your muffin pan. I fill the wells about half full and get the full 24.